exhibitions

for immediate release


“Decoys & Destructions”
November 4th - December 16th, 2006

Works by: Nancy Buchanan, Mara De Luca, Hillary Mushkin, Martha Rosler
opening reception: November 4th, 2006; 7 - 10pm

OVERTONES is pleased to present "Decoys & Destructions," a group exhibition focused on the relationships between power, abstraction, media, and military violence. "Decoys & Destructions" features work by artists Nancy Buchanan, Mara De Luca, Hillary Mushkin and Martha Rosler.

Nancy Buchanan has been working in video since the early 1970s. Her particular strength has been the consistent exploration of the spaces between political essay, poetry, and performance thereby calling attention to the easily ignored, marginalized and all encompassing ethical issues-the lapses between recognition and action, complacency and terror-made manifest (or more often ignored) by mainstream media.

Mara De Luca is a painter living and working in Los Angeles. Her work in painting investigates the aesthetics employed in the promotion of political, religious and societal ideologies. Her current project explores tropes of sensation and spectacle common to the visual strategies of Baroque art, 20th century political propaganda and contemporary television news graphics. Mara De Luca received a BA in Visual Arts at Columbia University in 1995 and her MFA at CalArts in 2004.

Hillary Mushkin's work in video, animation, installation and print explores the ways virtual and physical landscapes are imagined and used. In the past three years she has focused on how American utopian ideals of comfort and security are shaping an increasingly militarized society. The work intertwines historically opposed techniques: the visceral process of hand drawing and the semi-automated methods of digital art. Los Angeles based Mushkin has exhibited internationally including at the Hammer Museum in LA Freeways Festival (Los Angeles), Art in General and White Columns (New York), the European Media Arts Festival (Osnabrück), and the Ludwig Museum (Cologne) in the KunstFilm Biennale.

Martha Rosler was born in Brooklyn, New York. She took her B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1965 and her M.F.A. from University of California, San Diego in 1974. Rosler works in video, photo-text, installation, and performance, and writes criticism. Her work in the public sphere ranges from everyday life - often with an eye to women's experience - and the media to architecture and the built environment. She has published several books of photographs, texts, and commentary on public space, ranging from airports and roads to housing and homelessness.

OVERTONES is a Los Angeles art venue that supports and promotes creative endeavors in all artistic disciplines, with emphasis on emerging and mid-career artists, international collaboration and social responsibility. OVERTONES is dedicated to searching outside the confines of established art institutions and presenting work that has the potential to engage a wide range of audiences.

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